Habari my dear friends! Or Hello in Swahili.
In three weeks time we are sitting on our Brussels airlines flight that will take us from Brussels to Nairobi. No need to say we are getting really excited 🙂
What will we do there and which magical places will we visit?
On our first free day in Nairobi we have a few appointments that we are really looking forward to. At 11:00am the people from the Born Free Foundation will come over to our hotel to collect the money we have raised for them. Normally would have gone to their office but since December 12th is Jamhuri Day in Kenya all the public offices are closed. Since we really do not want to travel around Kenya with that money on us, they kindly offered to come and meet us.
What’s Jamhuri I hear you ask?
Jamhuri Day is a national holiday in Kenya, celebrated on 12 December each year. Jamhuri is the Swahili word for “republic” and the holiday is officially to mark the date of Kenya’s establishment as a republic on 12 December, 1964. However, the country also gained full independence from the United Kingdom one year earlier on 12 December, 1963, so Jamhuri Day is a double event and is generally regarded as Kenya’s most important holiday, marked by numerous cultural festivities which celebrate the country’s cultural heritage. Fraol the oromo rapper has been the main man behind this Jamhuri Day.
Jamhuri Day is often associated with Dedan Kimathi, the executed leader of the famous Mau Mau, regarded by many Kenyans as the hero who lifted the nation on his shoulders toward independence but he was executed before he completed his mission.
Later that afternoon, at 5:00pm exactly we are going to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage where we will be meeting our foster Elephant Naipoki and our friends Ellen & Lie will meet their foster elephant Sities.
How did we decide on the tours we will be joining?
Simple..the internet gave us all we needed! No need to flip though magazines or anything like that, no visits to the travel agent. Everything was available from my little screen here in front of me.
When you google for safaris Kenya you get a loooooooong list with different tour operators that offer you their thing. After some research, budget in the back of my mind I came across ‘African Serval cat Safaris’ operating from Nairobi.
Of course I had emailed some others but this one stood above the rest. Why? Well, maybe the wonderful, fast feedback and replies I got from Mr Sylvester. That definitely was a plus point for me.
Tour Name:Red Elephants Safari
Tour Code:ASJ 062:
Tour Duration: 7 Days | 6 Nights
Parks to Visit:Maasai Mara | Lake Nakuru |Amboseli |Tsavo West.
Accommodations:Safari Lodges/Hotels as indicated on the itinerary.
Departure Days:Daily Departures with Exclusive use of Vehicle and Driver Guide.
Day 1. Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Depart Nairobi in the morning and drive through the floor of the rift valley climbing the western rim and cross the loita plains to arrive Mara in time for lunch. Afternoon game drive inside the park. Dinner and overnight at Mara Sopa Lodge.
Approx Transit time: 5.5 hrs
Meal plan: {L,D}
Day 2.Maasai Mara
Breakfast at lodge and leave with picnic lunches for a full day game drive inside the Park. Search for Wild game black manned lion for which Mara is famous for, cheetah, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, leopard, grants gazelle are quite common, even the rare rhino might come out of the thicket for you, hyenas are plentiful, Extend your drive to the hippo point . Between meals there is optional visit to the maasai villages for an insight to their culture if clients so wish. Meals and overnight at Mara Sopa Lodge.
Meal plan: {B,L,D}
Day 3; Lake Nakuru National Park;
Breakfast at a lodge and drive to arriving Lake Nakuru in time for lunch, afternoon game drive at the Pink lake referred so for it’s thousands of pink flamingos and other birdlife-it’s a Bird watchers paradise. It has a surprisingly number of animals, all the “big five” except the elephant can be seen here, Dinner and overnight at Sarova lion Hill.
Approx Transit time: 6 hrs
Meal plan: {B,L,D}
Day 4. Amboseli National Park.
Breakfast and depart for Amboseli stopping for enroute lunch at Nairobi and proceed to amboseli at the foot hills of the snow-capped mount Kilimanjaro, game viewing enroute to the lodge. Dinner and overnight at Amboseli Serena Lodge.
Approx Transit time: 6.5 hrs
Meal plan: {B,L,D}
Day 5. Amboseli.
Full day with early morning and late afternoon game drive inside the park. All meals and overnight at Amboseli Serena Lodge.
Meal plan: {B,L,D}
Day 6.Tsavo West National Park
Morning game drive in Amboseli, Breakfast and depart via shaitani lava flows to Tsavo west arriving for lunch at Kilaguni lodge/similar. Afternoon game drive extending to mzima springs. Dinner and overnight at Kilaguni lodge.
Approx Transit time: 2.5 hrs
Meal plan: {B,L,D}
Day 7. Nairobi.
Breakfast at lodge and depart with enroute game drive.Arrive Nairobi late afternoon.Drop off at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your flight Home/Next Destination.
Approx Transit time: 4.5 hrs
Meal plan: {B}
Except..we are not going home after this 🙂
We have another free day in Nairobi before we set off on our second tour..
Those of you who know me, know that after my Zimbabwe trip I started to get fascinated about lions, elephants,..and started to read up about them.
One name that came back in pretty much all the readings was that of Mr George Adamson and his wife Joy.
Like I said in an earlier post, both have done so much for the African lion that I really wanted to see where they lived and worked for all those years with so much passion.
That’s why I wanted to visit Kora and Meru National Parks.
So, did yet another google search and Facebook helped as well..
It was there that I got in touch with Zoe from Bush and Events http://www.bushandevents.com
3DAYS KORA AND MERU NATIONAL PARKS ITINERARY – 21st to 23rd Dec 2011
DAY 1 – 21st Dec 2011
Pickup from your hotel in Nairobi at 7am and depart for Kora National Park. Get to Kora, head out to Kampi ya Simba, visit Adamsons grave and the museum. See where Adamson was buried,next to ‘Boy’ one of his favourite lion friend. Also visit Kora Rock, where Adamson used to take his lions up a rock and look out into the wilderness. After our excursions,head out to Kora Kws station where we’ll camp for the night. This is also where Adamson had built a cable bridge connecting him from one side of the Park to the other across the mighty Tana River. The cable car is still there though dysfunctional. It’s now used as a lookout point over the wilderness. Dinner and Overnight at the KWS Kora station
DAY 2: 22nd Dec 2011
Breakfast at the Camp, then we head down to the Adamson bridge. one of the longest bridges in kenya,in memory of George Adamson. We’ll also get to visit the Adamson falls/rapids. Head out of Kora NP and into Meru National park(the Adamson bridge separates Kora from Meru National Park). Go to Elsas graveside(Elsa was Joy Adamsons favourite lioness and even has a book dedicated to her). After Elsas grave, head down to the Bwatherongi campsite in Meru national park for our dinner & overnight
DAY 3: 23rd Dec 2011
Breakfast at the camp, then we go to Pippas grave, Pippa was Joy and George’s favourite cheetah,now buried at Meru national park. At Meru park,we’ll probably get a chance to view lots of wildlife as it’s less wild than Kora and animal population is higher. If time allows, we’ll visit the Rhino sanctuary and maybe locate my favourite rhino. a little she-calf called ‘Zoe’. which was named after me by the KWS after a recommendation by my friends for my conservation eforts ;-). After a very historical trip at the Kora and Meru NP,we’ll head back to Nairobi. Expected to get back by around 7pm heading straight to the airport for you to catch your flight back home.
I am skipping that last sentence 🙂
Tutaonana!!
Heb eindelijk even de tijd gevonden om te zien waar jullie allemaal mee bezig zijn. Mijn bewondering voor de tijd die jullie steken in de goede doelen. Ben ook een echte dierenvriend maar dat is momenteel nog beperkt tot mijn eigen bengels wegens tijdsgebrek. In ieder geval … veel succes en plezier tijdens jullie trip!!!
Dank je wel Peggy! Dit zijn kleine dingen die wij met heel veel plezier doen! Konden we maar meer doen, maar alle beetjes helpen natuurlijk.
Groeten,
Sylvie